The Day He Left Us
by toledo girl
Summary: What happened when everyone heard the news about Henry Blake's death.


Radar walked into the OR slowly as if in shock.

"Put on a mask Radar!" Hawkeye yelled.

Radar looked down at the paper and sighed.

"I just got a message. The colonel's plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. Spun in. There were no surviors," he said and then walked out.

The room fell silent. The news had hit everyone like a bombshell. Suddenly one of the nurses dropped and instrument which brought everyone back and they started working again. Radar went outside and walked over to what was Henry Blake's office. The office ws pretty much cleaned out. There was still the filing cabinets and all the booze was left in the cabinet by the desk. All the pictures that his kids had sent him were now off the wall. The desk was completely cleared off. Radar sighed as he went and sat down at the desk. He looked around the empty room and stared blankly.

_"Now Radar, I want you to behave yourself or else I'm gonna have to come back over here and kick your butt," Henry said smiling at Radar._

"I wish you had the chance to sir," he said quietly to himself.

Radar looked around again and spotted something on the floor. He picked it up and studied it. It was Henry's father's class pen.

"I guess he dropped it while packing," he said.

_Radar walked into Henry's tent._

_"Did you sign it sir?" he asked._

_"I'm not signing anything else Radar so you go ahead and sign it," Henry said._

_"No sir, my scrapbook," Radar said._

_"Oh yeah, over there," Henry said._

_Radar went over and picked it up._

_"Radar, you have been like a son to me, you made this war something special. From Colonel Blake," Radar said reading it._

_Radar looked up._

_"You really mean that sir?" he asked._

_"I sure do," he said._

_"You know maybe when we get home maybe the two of us should get together," Radar suggested._

_"Yeah we should, but uh, I'm gonna need some time to get settled in you know," Henry said._

_"Why don't you call me after two months and we'll get together for lunch," Henry said._

_"It'll take a day or so on the bus," Radar said._

_"Well then we'll get together for a really long lunch," Henry said._

_"Okay ir," Radar said starting to leave._

_"But Radar, let's just leave it loose for now and we'll see about it in a few months," Henry said._

Radar sat at the desk with his head down.

Over in Bloomington Illinois Lorraine was sitting in the kitchen feeding the baby. His children Andrew and Alyssa walked in.

"Mommy?" Alyssa asked.

Alyssa was four years old while Andrew was six.

"What is it?' she asked.

"When's daddy supposed to get home?" she asked.

"Anytime now," Lorraine said.

The phone rang and Lorraine walked away from the highchair and went and answered the phone.

"Hello?" she asked.

Both Andrew and Alyssa stood and watched as their mother stayed silent through the phone call.

"I see, thankyou," Lorraine said on the verge of tears.

She turned around and saw the kids. She didn't want to cry infront of them.

"Andrew, Alyssa, sit down, I need to talk to you," she said.

"Are we going to surprise daddy?" Andrew asked.

"No," she said.

"Can we wait until he gets home before you tells us?" Alyssa asked.

"I really need to talk to you both," Lorraine said.

"What is it?" Andrew asked.

"Daddy won't be coming home today," Lorraine said.

"Then when will he be coming home?" Andrew asked.

"He'll never come home," she said trying as hard as she could to hold back tears.

"Do we have to go visit him?" Alyssa asked.

"Honey, daddy died," Lorraine said.

"What do you mean?" Alyssa asked.

"I mean that daddy has went to sleep and that he'll never wake up," Lorraine said.

"You mean we'll never see him again?" Alyssa asked.

Alyssa ran off to her room while Andrew just sat there staring while tears streaked his face. Alyssa was in her room. She was lying on her bed. She sat up for a minute and reached underneith her pillow. Under her pillow she kept a picture of her and Henry together right before he left. Alyssa took it out and hugged it.

"Bye daddy," she said.

Back over in Korea everyone was just walking out of the OR. No one was talking. They all silently went back to their tents. Hawkeye and Trapper walked in and sat down on their own cots.

"You want a drink?" Trapper asked

"I need more then a drink," Hawkeye said.

Trapper handed him a glass and poured him a drink. They both sat there in silence as they drank. Frank walked over to Margaret's tent.

"Margaret?" he called quietly.

"Come in," she said.

Margaret had just been sitting at her desk. Her eyes looked puffy like she had been crying.

"I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come with me to go check out my new office?" he asked.

Margaret turned around.

"He just died Frank," she said.

"I know that Margaret. But what am I supposed to do about it? Life moves on," Frank said.

"Get out Frank," she said.

Frank left without an arguement. He walked over to the office. Once he walked in he saw Radar still sitting at the desk.

"What are you doing here?" Frank asked.

"Nothing sir," he said

"You know, I didn't want him to die either," Frank said.

"Nobody did sir," Radar said.

Frank looked around to see if Henry left anything and then left. He headed back to the swamp.

"Where were you at?" Hawkeye asked.

"Why do you care?" Frank asked.

"I guess I don't," Hawkeye said.

"You know what, maybe we should gather some people and go give Henry a proper farewell in the Officer's Club," Trapper said.

"That sounds like a good idea," Hawkeye said.

They both got up and left and then Frank decided that maybe he should go over to the Officer's Club. Trapper went over to Klinger's tent and knocked.

"Come in," Klinger said.

Trapper walked in to see Klinger still wearing the dress that he was in when everyone said goodbye to Henry.

"We're going to say goodbye to Henry over at the Officer's Club and I was wondering if you wanted to be there," Trapper said.

"I'll be there in a minute," Klinger said.

"Alright, we'll wait for you," Trapper said as he left.

Hawkeye went over to Margaret's tent and knocked.

"Come in," she said.

Hawkeye came in.

"We were going to go say farewell to Henry at the Officer's Club and I was wondering if you wanted to join us?" he asked.

"We're going to say good bye by getting drunk?" she asked.

"I don't think anyone will have that good of a time," Hawkeye said.

"Alright," she said.

Hawkeye left and Margaret followed. Trapper then went over to Father Mulcahy's tent and walked in.

"Father?" he asked.

"Yes?" he asked.

"We're gathering over at the Officer's Club to say good bye to Henry. You want to be there?" he asked.

"That sounds like a good idea," he said as he got up and they both headed out the door.

Hawkeye headed towards the office to go asked Radar. He walked in and noticed that he wasn't there and then decided to check Colonel Blake's office. He poked his head in and saw Radar sitting in the dark room.

"Radar?" Hawkeye asked.

"Yes sir?" he asked.

"I was wondering if you wanted to join us over at the Officer's Club to say good bye to Henry," Hawkeye said.

"I don't know," Radar said.

"Alright," Hawkeye said and then left.

Hawkeye walked in over at the Officer's Club and sat down at the counter where everyone was gathered. Next to walk in was Klinger. He walked in and went behind the counter and got everyone glass and poured them each some gin.

"It's the best I can do, there's no champagne back here," Klinger said.

"Before we do this let's all have a moment of silence for both Henry Blake and his family who was expecting him to come home today but never got a chance to even say good bye," Father Mulcahy said.

Everyone was silent and then Hawkeye held up his glass.

"Here's to Henry Blake. The man who made this war livable, who was adored by all of us. Even by those who don't want to admit it," Hawkeye said.

"Anyone else have anything to add?" Hawkeye asked.

"I do sir," Radar said as he entered.

Radar walked up and Klinger poured him a glass.

"To the man who would have done just about anything for everyone. He put up with my inabilities until I got the hang of the job and then ended up being like a father to me. My father died when I was very young so having someone who was like a father to me was very important to me and I won't ever forget that. To Henry Blake," Radar said.

"To Henry Blake," everyone else said as they held up their glasses and then drank.

They all sat in the silence as everyone exchanged looks of saddness for things would never be the same now without him. Many of their lives changed the day that Henry Blake left them.


End file.
